This invention relates to a method and system for enhancing a commercial transaction conducted via a communications network.
A communications network allows business entities to conduct commercial transactions through electronic communications. For example, electronic communications may facilitate the exchange of information about goods and/or services of a commercial transaction. The Internet represents an example of the communications network.
Under one technique for conducting a commercial transaction, the business entities electronically exchange all necessary information to conduct a transaction as if no previous transactions had been completed between the two business entities. However, this technique may consume greater bandwidth or resources than desired in transmissions over the communications network between business entities. Consequently, the business entities may experience greater expenses than desired for telecommunications services to transmit all of the necessary information for each transaction.
Under another technique for conducting a commercial transaction, the business entities only electronically exchange minimal information that is most relevant to a current transaction. The business entities may manually reference supplemental records from previous transactions to fill gaps or missing information in the minimal information. For example, the workers at a business entity may reference supplemental records on a preferred shipper or method of shipment. The integrity and organization of the supplemental records may vary with the effectiveness of the manual record-keeping procedures and internal process controls of the business entities. If the supplemental records are outdated, improperly maintained, or if one transacting party changes a transactional parameter in the supplemental records without informing the other party, the execution of the transaction may not be satisfactory to both parties. As the volume of commercial transactions increases, workers"" manual referencing of supplemental records may become more awkward and error prone. Thus, a need exists for reducing the amount of data transmitted between the business entities to conduct a transaction, while preserving the integrity and accuracy of the transactional data underlying each transaction.
In a business-to-business electronic commerce environment, data integrity is paramount for the timely and accurate execution of business transactions among business entities in a supply or distribution chain. A distribution chain may include a manufacturer, a distributor, and a retailer, where the retailer is downstream from the manufacturer. Where a supply or distribution chain of business entities are electronically linked together, a data error in an upstream business entity may have a cascading effect upon the business of one or more downstream business entities. Accordingly, if one noncompliant business entity in the chain does not maintain adequate data integrity, other business entities in the chain may be reluctant to conduct electronic transactions with the noncompliant business entity. Other business entities in the chain may seek to block the flow of corrupt or inaccurate data from the noncompliant business entity. The walled-off, noncompliant business entity is placed at distinct disadvantage over competitors that automatically exchange data over electronic communications to facilitate business transactions. Thus, a need exists for maintaining data integrity for electronic transactions among multiple business entities.